Colored Lightning
by Zerectica
Summary: So upset by the actions Peter took against her cello, Emma makes a decision which leads to disastrous results.


_**A/N: This story is based on an almost unheard of song from the '60s called The Power of Light, sung by the lovely Barbara Eden. It's lyrics remind me so much of Emma's power.**_

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Kneeling on the floor of her apartment, Emma lovingly stroked the broken bits of the cello, as she cried over its destruction. Her tears also came from the knowledge of who had broken her beloved cello. Peter Petrelli. Her friend. She didn't understand why he would do something like this. She had never seen him act like that before. What would possibly compel him to barge into her apartment and bust up her cello over a dream?! It just didn't make any sense. All she knew now was that she was angry at him. That he had really hurt her.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Emma got to her feet and headed straight for her purse. A quick search produced the object she was looking for. In the palm of her hand, the needle of the compass Samuel had given her spun with great speed. As the needle revolved around the entire face of the compass many times, Emma began to wonder how it worked. How it would help her get to the carnival of which Samuel had spoken of. No sooner than her thoughts drifted to the carnival did she find her surroundings change. She was no longer standing inside her apartment, but rather outside of a brightly lit carnival.

She had gotten where she wanted to go, though she didn't know how. And she wouldn't have time to try to figure it out. Moments after the carnival appeared before her eyes, she saw Samuel walking toward her. "Welcome Emma," Samuel said while signing his words at the same time. "I'm glad to see that you decided to join us."

Samuel beckoned her forward, and Emma followed him into the depths of the mysterious carnival.

_Power on.  
__Light the lights.  
Electric beams. Electric haze. Electric dreams. Electric days. Electric nights._

As Samuel led her through the carnival, Emma saw many strange things. Such a variety of people, each possessing an ability, unlike anything she could have ever imagined could be possible.

When he eventually came to a stop, Emma saw a cello sitting in front of her. "I thought you could use another," Samuel replied as he handed her her the bow.

Happily taking the bow from his hand, Emma expressed her thanks. She was so ecstatic that she didn't she didn't even concern herself over how he could possibly know that the other cello had been destroyed. She was just so glad to have another cello to play.

Soon she was seated behind the instrument and pulling the bow across the strings. The union of string and bow released waves of colored lights into the air that danced through the night skies.

_See the power flower all around you.__  
Yellow zigzags blooming in the air.  
Bringing lightning, to the darkness, of your absolute despair._

Music and light intertwined in air and painted the night. The colors were beautiful and the sounds were sweet. While she continued to play, Emma's thoughts drifted away, to another time, another place. Her mind traveled back to earlier that day at her apartment when Peter entered her home and shattered her cello and her heart without a word.

The great pain she felt in those moments returned and began to change the sounds and colors that emanated from the cello. The sorrow inside her heart flowed though her and into the instrument filling it with her pain. The anguish filled cello stopped playing the beautiful melody of moments before in favor of a more sorrowful tune. The beautiful pastel colors grew dark and became less flowing.

Emma too consumed with hurt, didn't take notice of the change. Her only thoughts were those of what Peter had done. The emotions continued to consume her and as it did so, her sadness turned to anger and once again the lights and melody given off by the cello did as well.

Emma started pulling the bow across the instrument's strings with greater force and the colors created by her power became harsh. The lights no longer floated though the air, but rather shot off the strings and bounced through the air in an angular fashion, creating zigzagging lines of bright yellows and reds.

_Hear the vibrations.__  
Feel the earth rock.  
Watch the colors fly about, exploding into shock._

As the feelings of anger continued to war throughout her body, the strength and intensity of her power continued to grow until she could no longer contain it. Her power now controlled her. She wanted to stop but she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to stop pulling the bow across the strings of the cello.

With each note the power contained in the colored lights grew stronger. Their innocence was gone. They had started to cause damage and destruction to anything they came in contract with. Nearby structures and tents were cracking and tearing. Even the ground beneath her feet was affected, shaking and shifting, as it threatened to fall away completely. Intense colors were exploding off the dangerous instrument in every possible direction, attacking everything with its deadly force.

Fear had long set in within Emma and brought tears to her eyes. She was so afraid. She wanted to stop. She didn't want to hurt anyone. She watched helplessly as carnival goers fled in fear, their mouths open wide in a scream. Others she saw collapse to the ground, unable to escape the danger she was creating and powerless to stop.

Her forced playing continued into the night and Emma lost all concept of time. She had no idea how long she had been pulling the bow back and forth across the vibrating strings, all she knew was that she was exhausted. Her arms and fingers were burning with extreme pain, which only severed to increase the flow of tears that were streaming down her face. She just wanted all this to be over.

_Sweet cosmic music, like electric drops of rain.  
Sweet flowing rhythms running freely through your brain.  
Power flowers all around you, energizing life in every way.  
It's the power of light. The power of love. Power flowers today. _

Peter Petrelli raced through the screaming crowd of the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, hoping and not hoping at the same time that he would find Emma here. He had traveled to her apartment again to apologize for the cello and to try once more to explain himself, but there had been no answer. Peter figured it could be possible that she had ignored him because she was so upset with him, but the carnival kept coming to the forefront of his mind. If she hadn't been ignoring him and really was at the carnival, Peter knew he would have to go there and find her, so he had used to compass on his arm to guide him there.

When Peter got closer to the source of the chaos in the carnival, what he saw nearly stopped his heart then and there. Emma sat in midst a sea of violent explosions of colors, everything around her falling apart and crumbling. What he saw before him wasn't anything like his dream, his vision, it was much worse. Tears and panic were dripping off her face. Traces of blood stained the strings of the cello where the prolonged playing had cut her fingers. The sight of her suffering affected him so deeply. He couldn't loose her. He had so few people in his life. He couldn't let anything happen to her. She was too good a person. She didn't deserve any of this. Peter knew that no matter what he took, he had to find a way to save her.

Peter tried to run to Emma to save her, but before he could even get close, an intense, blinding red light stuck the ground with such amazing power, that the earth cracked just inches in front of him. The hole separating him from Emma was too great for him to jump across and Peter was forced back. He would have to find another way to get to her.

Emma's ability had gotten so out of control that Peter knew if he couldn't find a way to reach her soon and stop the cello from producing any more of its destruction, she would surely die. And that was just unacceptable to him. For as long as he had a single breath in him, Emma would not die.

_Power flowers all around you, energizing life in every way.  
The power of light. The power of love. Power flowers today. _

Peter frantically rushed around the devastation of the carnival, trying desperately to find any possible path that would lead him to Emma. As he raced through the obstacle course that had once been a carnival, memories of the sweet and beautiful file clerk flowed though his mind.

Each memory of the wonderful friend he had made that entered his thoughts just added to Peter's determination to save her. She had quickly become one of the bright spots in his life and with all the darkness that had entered his life recently, he really needed a reason to smile. Emma Coolidge was definitely one of those reasons.

After what seemed like forever, Peter finally had Emma within sight again. He was relieved to have found another way to her, but in the time it had taken to get to this point, the condition she was in had greatly deteriorated. Peter knew the window for saving Emma's life was almost closed and the relief he had felt at finding an alternate route to her instantly dissolved.

As he neared, the ground began to shake and another crack broke the earth, separating himself and Emma once again. It was as if the cello knew of his intentions and was doing everything in its power to prevent him from saving Emma. Bur Peter was determined. If he couldn't save Emma, he was going to die trying. As the dirt under his feet fell away, Peter took a leap of faith, hoping to making it across the fissure to Emma who so desperately needed someone to save her.

_Electric beams. Electric haze. Electric dreams. Electric days. Electric nights.  
Power off._

When Peter picked himself up off the ground and took note of where he was, he realized that he had made it. He was now only a few feet from Emma and there were no cracks in the earth creating barriers between them.

Without hesitation, Peter fought through the deadly storm of color to reach the source of all the trouble. Taking hold of the cello, Peter discovered that breaking it loose from the bond it had formed with Emma would be harder than he thought it would be. With great effort, Peter was finally able to pry the horrible instrument from Emma's trembling, pain wracked hands and slam it against the ground below.

When the cello shattered the spell was broken. The colors dissipated and the destruction ceased. But the danger wasn't passed. Not for Emma anyway. While destroying the cello had saved everyone else, it was Emma whom Peter was worried about.

Moments after the the stringed instrument was broken into over a dozen different pieces, Emma lost consciousness and collapsed, falling into Peter's waiting arms. Once the paramedic was assured that she would be okay, he gently brushed the hair out of her face and held her until her eyes fluttered open to be greeted with his warm smile.


End file.
